10 Canadian women you need to read

Friday, January 31, 2014 |

Did you know 2014 is the year to read more books by women? So said a columnist for the Guardian who was dismayed by the gender inequality in book reviewing/prize-awarding, and now the call to action is spreading like wildfire. (Check out the hashtag #readwomen2014 to see what's cooking).

But unless you're David Gilmour, you've probably read your share of Canadian women's writing, right? You've likely read the Margarets (Laurence and Atwood), Alice Munro and Carol Shields. I mean, what is CanLit without them?

It's also been a really good year for talented writers who also happen to be women: Munro won the Nobel Prize, Eleanor Catton took home the Man Booker Prize and Lynn Coady scored this year's Scotiabank Giller Prize. Even though this country has a bevy of bestselling women writers there are some writers who are flying a little under the radar -- whether they are women-identified or transgender writers who eschew the gender binary altogether.

So in the spirit of the hashtag #readwomen2014 we present this list of 10 writers you need to put on your radar.